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Celia Johnson: Heads Up! Moose!

Celia Johnson
Silverthorne

Thursday morning I was walking my dog up the Willowbrook Road hill, a daily ritual I have been doing for years. Enjoying the beauty of the morning and admiring my neighbors’ landscaping and flowers, my mind started wondering … dreaming and thinking about how I should spend more time sprucing up our yard. As I was heading back down the hill in this dreamy state, I turned the corner and looked up – 10 feet in front of me stood a tall, dark, stately bull moose. He stood very still and stared at me. My heart starting pounding as I remembered moose get agitated by dogs. Bailey (my yellow lab who is scared of the little 5 pound McPheeter dog who lives across the street) promptly hid behind me. There was no way I could outrun the long legs of that moose, so I started slowly walking backwards. To my surprise, he started walking toward me! My hands shaking, I grabbed for my cell phone, which dropped to the pavement below. I reached down to pick it up praying that it wasn’t broken. Thank goodness for speed dial – “Katie, come get me right away!” I continued walking backwards toward a set trees that might separate the moose from Bailey and me. All of the sudden, a noise from up the hill distracted him. He stopped and decided to turn toward the noise. Thirty seconds later Katie drove up and I was safely inside the shelter of her car. Whew! Moose love to hang out in the willows that are abundant in our neighborhood, so I have seen and admired them dozens of times before, but always from a safe distance. This time was way too close! Heads up everyone!


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